on my allotment i am planning an area for raspberries. it will be a new thing to me but all the tasty offerings i have had over this season tells me (along with strawberries) that they are a must.
the space i have available is about 12 by 6 feet.
my neighbour has offered some runners of his but doesnt know the variety.
there are odd canes sticking up through my huge rhubarb patch.
i dont know how practical it would be to retrieve the canes i have in the rhubarb or wether i should take some from my neighbuor or wether i should buy new canes.
1. how may canes would you expect to fit comfortably in that space (two rows?)
2. ken muir sells 5 canes for 11.50 is this good value or expensive?
3. should i buy some new and use some of the offered ones?
4. if i get the bed ready soon when woud be the best time to plant new ones/ dig up old ones?
gosh so may quiestions i need to go and have a lie down now.
sarah
If I was starting off I would grow an Autumn fruiting variety like Autumn Bliss thye have been fruiting for a fortnight and will keep going up to the frosts. There big advantage is you cut all the canes back in Winter, so you can't cut out the wrong ones!
I would look at a single row of ten in that space and use the space down each side for salads then let them run out both sides... they will anyway.
If the offerings are more tha about 3 years old (since planting) I'd buy in new just to be on the safe side..
:)
Do the ones in the rhubarb patch, or your neighbour's crop satisfactorily? What you don't want is canes like the ones I had to get rid of, which were infected with virus. They spread everywhere, and produced no fruit; the only thing to do was get rid of them and start again. I'll be looking for canes myself in the autumn.
thanks for the advice guys. i think i will buy new. i dont know about the ones in the rhubarb they have only appeared in th elast month or so (maybe they are autumn ones) and i have only had the plot just under a year. think iwill have some autumn and some summer ones.
If the ones in the rhubarb have only just appeared, could they be spreading in from somewhere else?
Just some thing some one told me.
Never plant raspberries near blackcurrants, the blackcurrants give them a desease.
I just supposed that this was correct, but do not know for sure.
I bought some new canes in the Spring - was too late to get more Autumn Bliss - sold out, they are extremely popular, so bought Joan J which is another autumn fruiting variety - a cross from Autumn Bliss I think.
They are doing really well and starting to fruit now - the berries are HUGE, lots of them even in their first year and the few I've picked already had a wonderful taste. Would strongly recommend them.